Two start-up companies armed only with prototypes came to the Consumer Electronics Association’s (CEA) Line Shows event intent on helping consumers lower energy consumption and their energy bills with simple plug-in solutions.
The PicoWatt Smart Plug is a Smart Grid-compatible Wi-Fi device.
The Modlet uses Zigbee wireless technology for scheduling.
via ‘Vampire Power’ Under Fire From Two Start-Ups – 2010-06-23 20:10:08 | TWICE.
ZigBee is ready for mass adoption and “green” energy mandates provide a likely driver while ZigBee itself emerges as the tool of choice for advanced meter infrastructures. Energy mandates will drive the convergence of ZigBee-based home automation and control applications with AMI (Advanced Meter Infrastructure) applications. Automated meters will work in both dimensions, saving significant reading costs for the utilities and offer structured rate formulations. At the same time AMI allows the consumer/user himself to drastically channel energy uses to precise need times and volumes.
via ZigBee Surfs the “Green Wave” for Home and Energy Sectors with Advanced Metering.
Engineering and testing services company National Testing Systems (NTS) announced that it has completed Zigbee Smart Energy certification testing for a versatile wireless electric load controller made by SimpleHomeNet, which makes energy management and home and building automation devices. But the big news is that smart energy device testing appears to be taking off as a hot growth segment of the flourishing Smart Grid technologies market. The announcement also signals continuing widespread acceptance of Zigbee as the leading wirelessly networked sensing and controlling standard for consumer electronics, home area networks, commercial and industrial applications. NTS CEO William McGinnis said the explosive growth of smart energy device testing is a global phenomenon and that the market can only keep growing as more companies dive into smart energy technologies.
Quick Take: The Smart Grid initiative has given birth to an incredible array of new markets and opportunities based on innovative technologies we probably wouldn’t have imagined at the outset. That point also stresses how extremely important interoperability standards are to a functional, reliable Smart Grid.
via Smart Grid: Smart Energy Device Testing Taking Off: Explosive Global Growth Predicted.
The ZigBee standards lead to electronic systems that are inherently self organizing (self calibrating) and self healing and such devices use much less power and can be deployed in larger numbers than the original WiFi and Bluetooth options. However, we now have low power WiFi and Bluetooth and many proprietary protocols for wireless sensor networks that use much less power than ZigBee, power being a constant worry because WSN needs so much electricity and yet the devices usually need to be small. So what are the ZigBee enthusiasts doing to stay relevant? Gilles Thonet of Schneider Electric gave some answers in a lecture on ZigBee for Energy Harvesting and Very Low Power at the recent IDTechEx Energy Harvesting and Storage conference in Munich Germany. He is Director, ZigBee Competence Center, Schneider Electric and Chair, ZigBee Green Power Group, ZigBee Alliance.
via Energy Harvesting Journal: ZigBee for Energy Harvesting and Very Low Power.
National Technical Systems (NTS) Completes ZigBee Smart Energy Certification Testing for SimpleHomeNet Appliance
Rapidly Expanding Smart Grid Compliance Testing Market Is Key NTS Initiative
National Technical Systems, Inc. (Nasdaq: NTSC) (NTS), a leading provider of engineering services, announced today that it recently completed ZigBee Smart Energy certification testing for a feature-rich, wireless electric load controller manufactured by SimpleHomeNet, a division of Compacta International. The tests were run at the NTS laboratory in Culver City, CA. Following completion of the certification tests, the ZigBee Alliance reviewed the test results submitted by NTS and the application submitted by SimpleHomeNet and certified the load controller.
NTS is the market leader in ZigBee smart energy certification testing and one of only three companies worldwidewith rights designated by the ZigBee Alliance to test wireless products for ZigBee Smart Energy certification. Completion of the certification tests for SimpleHomeNet is another example of NTS' expanding leadership in the burgeoning testing market for ZigBee Smart Energy.
ZigBee Smart Energy is the market leading wireless home area network (HAN) standard with more than 40 million smart meters being installed around the world. Last year, it was selected by the U.S. Department of Energy and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) as an initial interoperable standard for HAN devices. ZigBee has also been adopted by over 350 global manufacturers andthere is a large total potential market of 1.5 billion devices that could be installed in homes worldwide for energy management and demand response, according to a recently published report by ON World.
Smart energy device testing is a rapidly expanding global industry and a growing market for NTS,said NTS Chief Executive Office William McGinnis. The U.S. Department of Energy has allocated $30 billion as part of a national energy initiative backed by national utility companies, which is expected toencourage the development and certification of a broad range of smart energy products McGinnis said.
ZigBee Smart Energy certification demonstrates that a wireless product such as a load controller, or other wireless device, is compliant with the ZigBee Smart Energy standard that was created by energy experts and ZigBee Alliance members. ZigBee members include Ember, Freescale, Texas Instruments, Landis & Gyr, Itron, Cisco, General Electric, Honeywell, Intel, Mitsubishi Electric Corp., Philips, Samsung Electronics, Siemens, Sony and many other leading corporations around the world.
“This is already a large, rapidly growing market and an expanding list of companies is committed to the smart energy path, which we believe is a good opportunity for us,” McGinnis added. “We not only provide the test services, but we also design the test tools to simulate the functions of the appliances that allow our clients to do self-testing. We have a full solution for our clients with software testing and validation and multiple engineering services.”
Remotely controlled, wireless appliances such as thermostats, meters, load controllers, pool pumps, water heaters and display units designed for homeowners as part of a HAN are key components of a smart grid created to reduce energy usage, increase reliability and cut costs for consumers, said NTS Chief Technology Officer Osman Sakr. The NTS testing demonstrates that the appliances work together properly and can accurately show how much energy is being used, thereby allowing a consumer to manage energy efficiently.
Al Choperena, President and CEO of Compacta International, said the NTS testing and ZigBee Smart Energy certification of its load controller “is a key milestone in our ZigBee product roadmap and signals our strong commitment to the future of the smart grid. To date, our certification efforts have been on track thanks to our ongoing partnership with NTS.”
via NTS – National Technical Systems, Inc. – Investors – Financial News.
In 2001, MIT spinout and software firm Ember received $3 million in seed funding from Polaris Venture Partners with DFJ New England, Stata Venture Partners, and Bob Metcalfe, the Ethernet guru.
Ten years and about $89 million later, Ember, now a hardware company, has found a growing market for their ZigBee wireless protocol chips: the smart grid.
via Ten Million Zigbee Smart Grid ICs Shipped by Ember : Greentech Media.
Leading Asia Pacific-based provider of network equipment and Smart Grid solutions, Billion Electric Co., Ltd. (Taiex: 3027, trading as Billion), will unveil a full range of Smart Grid solutions, including BPL AMI modules, MV/LV concentrators, energy management solutions like PLC adapter and ZigBee gateway, Cyber Security solutions and industrial smart metering solutions at COMPUTEX TAIPEI 2010 to be held June 1-5 in Taipei, Taiwan.
via Billion Unveils Smart Grid, Energy Management, and Cyber Security Solutions for a Green Planet.
GE Appliances & Lighting announced today that it is the world’s first appliance manufacturer to achieve ZigBee(R) Smart Energy certification for its “smart” or smart grid-enabled appliances. This industry first will enable GE’s smart grid-enabled appliances to communicate wirelessly with utility companies via smart meters to help consumers better manage their electricity usage and utilities better manage overall power consumption during peak usage times, thus helping reduce the need for more power generation and helping consumers save money in areas where utilities have implemented Time-of-Use (TOU) pricing.
… Certification testing of the GE technology was conducted by National Technical Systems (NTS), an independent organization authorized by the ZigBee Alliance.
via GE First to Use ZigBee(R) Protocols for Smart Appliances – MarketWatch.
The next meter your utility company installs will be a smart one, the industry tells us.
(It’s all part of the government’s smart-grid plans, and a potentially a new threat to consumers’ privacy.)
Your smart meter may have the ability able to tell you how much juice your dishwasher is using or how efficient your fridge is.
But another system, developed by engineering students at Northeastern University, can do a better job of helping you trim your energy bill.
via App can help fine-tune your electricity usage – The Boston Globe.
RF Micro Devices is teaming with Ember to introduce ZigBee front end modules (FEMs) for smart grid applications that give utilities and consumers more control over how they monitor and save energy. ZigBee is a global wireless networking standard for monitoring and control in a variety of applications such as energy management, safety and security, lighting and appliances.
via ZigBee front ends for smart metering – RF Design – Dataweek.
Atmel® Corporation (Nasdaq: ATML), a leader in microcontroller and touch solutions, today announced that it will be exhibiting at ESC Silicon Valley in San Jose, California, April 27-29, 2010. At the show, the company will be demonstrating a variety of Atmel solutions including:
Richardson Electronics, Ltd. (RELL 9.81, +0.46, +4.92%) , whose new website features the latest products from top manufacturers for the most important RF/Wireless and Power Conversion applications, today announced it has signed a global distribution agreement with longtime engineering partner LS Research to distribute its line of innovative embedded solutions products.
via Richardson Electronics to Distribute LS Research’s Wireless Modules and Developer Kits – MarketWatch.
Zigbee and Wi-Fi backers will collaborate to bring the Smart Energy 2.0 protocol to Wi-Fi networks. The protocol, developed by Zigbee and powerline proponents, is seen by utilities including Pacific Gas and Electric as a key underpinning for linking smart energy devices in the home.
via EETimes.com – Smart grid protocol will ride Wi-Fi at home.
The ZigBee® Alliance, a global ecosystem of companies creating wireless solutions for use in energy management, residential, commercial and consumer electronics applications, today announced the ZigBee Smart Energy version 2.0 Technical Requirements Document (TRD) is available for public comment by the Smart Grid community at large, opening it beyond those who have been active in its creation. The Alliance makes this unprecedented move for an organization engaged in standards development because it recognizes the important role ZigBee Smart Energy plays in the Smart Grid and the need to expedite the broadest consensus possible on its capabilities.
The smart grid community saw a major meeting of the minds today: the ZigBee Alliance and Wi-Fi Alliance have teamed up to develop applications for home energy management and networking.
Both ZigBee and Wi-Fi are wireless protocols that allow electronic devices, smart meters and utilities to wirelessly send data back and forth. This is the foundation of the burgeoning smart grid: the ability of utilities to receive data directly from their customers’ meters and for consumers to have access to the same data so they can conserve energy and save money off their monthly bills.
via ZigBee, Wi-Fi join forces to kick home energy management up a notch | VentureBeat.
ZigBee is ready for mass adoption and “green” energy mandates provide a likely driver while ZigBee itself emerges as the tool of choice for advanced meter infrastructures. Energy mandates will drive the convergence of ZigBee-based home automation and control applications with AMI Advanced Meter Infrastructure applications. Automated meters will work in both dimensions, saving significant reading costs for the utilities and offer structured rate formulations. At the same time AMI allows the consumer/user himself to drastically channel energy uses to precise need times and volumes.
via ZigBee Surfs the “Green Wave” for Home and Energy Sectors with Advanced Metering.
Will power and the devices that consume it be managed more closely by a system that includes information networking and Internet technologies? If so, an entirely new set of challenges will be introduced as well as risks and threats to the utility environment.
The utility infrastructure is old and aging, lending credence to the renewal Smart Grid (SG) represents. However, old also means predictable, an attribute not typically associated with the Internet and the threats surrounding it. In this light, even if SG used, without modification, existing network security technologies, it does not guarantee meaningful security as a result.
The smart grid community saw a major meeting of the minds today: the ZigBee Alliance and Wi-Fi Alliance have teamed up to develop applications for home energy management and networking.
Both ZigBee and Wi-Fi are wireless protocols that allow electronic devices, smart meters and utilities to wirelessly send data back and forth. This is the foundation of the burgeoning smart grid: the ability of utilities to receive data directly from their customers’ meters and for consumers to have access to the same data so they can conserve energy and save money off their monthly bills.
via ZigBee, Wi-Fi join forces to kick home energy management up a notch | VentureBeat.
ICM Controls, a leader in the manufacture and supply of electronic controls to the HVACR industry, announces its new SimpleComfort® series programmable communicating thermostat (PCT). The SE5000 features an in-home display (IHD) coupled with a residential thermostat, providing direct HVAC load control by utility companies serving Smart Grid customers.
via Programmable communicating thermostat based on ZigBee Smart Energy profile – 7thSpace Interactive.
When it comes to technological advancements in the connected home space, wireless networking certainly seems to be the way to go. There are a variety of different types of wireless technology to chose from, all specifically designed to enable data to be transferred more efficiently to various devices throughout the home.
Recently two popular standards for wireless communications, ZigBee and Wi-Fi (wireless fidelity), have agreed to come together to enable greater interoperability for smart energy applications in the home. The ZigBee Alliance, www.zigbee.org, San Ramon, Calif., and the Wi-Fi Alliance, www.wi-fi.org, Austin, Texas, will collaborate on the use of an energy management protocol, ZigBee Smart Energy 2.0, across HANs (home area networks) in households equipped with smart meters.
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